Digital Divide

Casey Lide of Keller & Heckman wrote a recent blog that warns that federal grant funding might be considered as taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This would be a dreadful outcome for any taxable entity that receives the grant funding since it would create a huge tax liability that would have to somehow be covered outside of the grant funding.

On March 22, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee moved the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2021 (S.1541) out of committee after a markup. Introduced in 2021 by Sen Tammy Duckworth (D–IL), the bill advanced with an amendment agreed to by prison phone justice advocates and the National Sheriffs’ Association. The bill would restore the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to regulate all prison and jail calls and stop prison telecom corporations from charging incarcerated people and their loved ones predatory rates.

The American Library Association released its new report "Keeping Communities Connected: Library Broadband Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Key takeaways include:

Vice President Kamala Harris and Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves traveled to Sunset (LA) to hear directly from Louisianans about the struggles they face due to the stark digital divide and lack of access to fast, affordable, and reliable broadband.

There’s no question US consumers are relying more heavily on broadband services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. But are the costs for those services rising or falling? Well, the answer depends on who you ask and what metric you’re using to measure “cost.” In February 2022, independent research firm BroadbandNow published a report which found broadband prices in the country fell significantly between the first quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2021.

Internet connectivity became less affordable around the world in 2021, according to the latest statistical analysis by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).

Seventeen Democratic members of the House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee wrote to Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), outlining their recommendations and priorities as the agency implements the broadband programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

It’s taken more than a year for the Federal Communications Commission to authorize all of the nearly $523 million Windstream won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction, but it hasn’t been resting on its laurels in the interim. During the auction, Windstream won a total of $522.9 million to cover 192,567 locations across 18 states with fiber. Jeff Small, president of Windstream’s Kinetic business, said construction on about 10 percent of its build is already underway.

The Williamson County (TN) Commission stated its willingness to help fund broadband internet projects in the county in two resolutions approved unanimously March 14. The money would come from the over $46 million Williamson County is slated to receive in American Rescue Plan funds meant to provide relief from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

On March 16, 2022, the vast majority of the new rules for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) – the successor program to the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program created by Congress in 2021 to help offset the cost of broadband subscription and broadband-capable devices for qualified low-income consumers – became effective.